Ended up advising Sleep Clinic!

[puffin]

Oh well!

Went to the sleep clinic last week. They gave me a new mask to try out, which was about as much use at the proverbial choc fire guard. So I went back to my old mask. They also gave me a sats meter which you put on your finger over night. With my machine set at 10 I still recorded 5 events an hour, which is why I've been feel a little tired lately? So I've been upped to 12 today on my return visit!

I had to take my machine with me for the second visit, I put the tube in the bag with the fleece wrap still on it. When the tech. saw it, she said "whats that?" So I told her what it was and where to get one. Next thing I know was she had called in another tech. to have a look. Next time I go in, in a month, they want the web address to get some for the sleep clinic to give out. Cool!

The second tech. said " your the chap who camps with a battery?" So I ended up explaining how to run a Cpap from a non standard battery pack. Turns out they have another customer would is going to an Eastern European country with mains power problems and wanted information regarding off mains cpap use. So next time I'm passing I've got to drop in some information for the tech's in the sleep clinic! Not too much of a bind, as the clinic is only 4 miles away.

[SteveP]

Maybe you should start your own Consultancy company...

puffin.can.help.com

for your web site!

Seriously, well done! That's what I have learned over the last 2-3 months. The knowledge and expertise in here is very impressive. Most times I speak to a nurse at the Sleep Clinic I cannot stop thinking they are using answers they read in books...

SteveP

[flyinpete]

Hi Puffin

You say you are still recording 5 events per hour. Is that 5 AI or 5 HI or 5 AHI?

I still get 5 AHI events, but only 0.2 is AI and the rest is HI.

Why not give them the link to the info on batery packs that on here?

Peter

[puffin]

Basically I had a sats meter on my finger over night, it recorded 5 dips in my O2 levels per hour, while using my kit. I've got to drop into the Hospital in a few weeks, so I've printed out the posts for them to read. Let them find the forum from the page heading.

[puffin]

Went to my clinic today for another follow up, now that they upped my setting to 12 from 10 a month ago, I feel somewhat better. This has been confirmed by an over night Pulse Oxy meter session. Gone from 5 dips to 2 an hour.

As my records were at hand, I asked the Sleep Tech. at Walsall about some of my figures. My AHI was 9, very mild, this was from my first assessment. Derived from wearing a meter with chest straps, tubes around my ear and under my nose, plus a Pulse Oxy meter.

Once they have worked out what you need in terms of machine settings, they only use the Pulse Oxy meter every 3 months to monitor your progress.

Short guide on how my clinic measures my progress.

A Pulse Oxy meter is a little box of tricks that you wear on your wrist. A short cable runs from this to a finger bob clip. This clip has a light and sensor that measures Oxygen saturation levels and pulse, this information is displayed and recorded in the little box of tricks. You wear this over night in your own bed, means two trips to the clinic on consecutive days. The sleep clinic down loads this information and prints out a hard copy of the trace record, software works out the number of dips per hour or Apneas. The sleep techs. aim for less then three dips an hour.

[SteveP]

A Pulse Oxy meter is a little box of tricks that you wear on your wrist. A short cable runs from this to a finger bob clip. This clip has a light and sensor that measures Oxygen saturation levels and pulse, this information is displayed and recorded in the little box of tricks. You wear this over night in your own bed, means two trips to the clinic on consecutive days. The sleep clinic down loads this information and prints out a hard copy of the trace record, software works out the number of dips per hour or Apneas. The sleep techs. aim for less then three dips an hour.

Good stuff...

I am guessing that 90% of the diagnostic is based on the number of dips per hour. At least that was the main comment from my Sleep Consultant.

Considering how expensive it is to conduct a sleep test at the hospital (cost of room, staff, etc) why don't they use this oxymeter more for home use, at least to pre-screen suspected OSA patients?